An Investigation Into Vocational Secondary School Students' English Learning Needs And English Teachers' Professional Development

The Ministry of Education of China points out in “Action Plan(2010-2012)of Vocational Secondary Education Reform and Innovation” that current vocational secondary education should focus on organization's demand for talent and be adjusted in accordance with the demand for the talent meeting the needs of the society and the market.Positive efforts should be made to connect in depth between education and industry,school and organization,specialty setting and occupational position,as well as textbook content and professional standard.In 2014,the State Council of China issued “Decision on Speeding up Development of Modern Vocational Education”.The decision indicated that the current vocational education did not yet meet the demand of economic and social development with such existing problems as unreasonable structure,poor quality and operational conditions.The National Institute of Education Sciences carried out a nationwide satisfaction survey on vocational secondary education between May and June in 2016.Respondents of the survey are students and teachers from vocational secondary schools and employing organizations.The results of the survey are as follows: students are basically satisfied with vocational secondary education,teachers are basically satisfied with their own work,however,employers are “not too satisfied” with the quality of vocational secondary education.Employers have a low recognition of vocational secondary school students' English level,writing ability and their senses and abilities to understand the development of overseas relevant industries.The survey has exposed the discrepancy between English education in vocational secondary schools and social needs.This research makes a clearer demonstration about the actual implement of“English Teaching Syllabus in Vocational Secondary School” in Honghe Prefecture by investigating and analyzing the present English learning situation and learning needs of students in Honghe Vocational Secondary Schools in Yunnan Province.Aiming at combining viewpoints from students and teachers in vocational secondaryschools and management from employing organizations about English education,to find out the discrepancy between students' English learning needs and present English course teaching,this research attempts to seek for English teachers' professional development direction and improvement measures of English teaching in vocational secondary schools.Using CBI theory,need analysis theory and teacher's professional development theory as the guidance,this research is conducted around three research questions as:1)what is the current situation of students' English learning in vocational secondary schools? 2)what is the students' English learning needs in vocational secondary schools? 3)what is the situation of English teachers' professional development in vocational secondary schools? Adopting both quantitative and qualitative research approaches,using Hutchinson and Waters' s classification of needs as the framework,a questionnaire to students is designed based on the current situation of vocational secondary schools to have a survey on 200 students' present English learning situation and their views on English teaching in schools.In the meantime,a questionnaire to teachers is designed to reveal 32 teachers' current English teaching situations and professional development.In order to explore thoroughly research questions,semi-structured interviews are employed with three graduates and two teachers from vocational secondary schools and one manager from the employing organization.The outline of interviews in this research is trimmed basing on the interview outline from Needs Analysis of English Language Competences in Vocational Senior Secondary Education in the Mainland of China: A Mixed Methods Inquiry written by Zhao Wen.The results from the interviews provided qualitative supplementary information and questionnaires' quantitative results.Data collected from the questionnaires are double entered with Epidata 3.0 and tested for consistency to ensure the data accuracy.SPSS17.0 is adopted for data analysis and to verify the reliability and validity of the questionnaires.Statistical analysis is carried out with SPSS17.0 on the percentage of items and the non-parametrical correlation coefficient from the students' questionnaire.Data analysis and statistical functions on questionnaire website(wenjuan.com)areemployed to directly generate the pie charts and tables on items from the teachers' questionnaire.The qualitative data analysis plus the interviewees' original data,supports and supplements the quantitative research results.Through analyzing the survey data,the findings of this research are as follows: 1)Students in vocational secondary schools in Honghe Prefecture have a weak English foundation.They are lack of interest,confidence and independent learning ability.Their English learning mainly relies on classroom teaching,and English learning effects are not obvious.2)Students should pay great attention to the functionality of the English language and expect more interactive teaching methods and more English-friendly environments and facilities.They are looking forward to more practical English learning content related to their majors.3)English teachers in vocational secondary schools have unclear professional developing aims,low professional ideal,backward teaching modes and few training opportunities,and therefore,their professional developments are not optimistic.The conclusion of this research is that the general English course in vocational secondary schools in Honghe Prefecture cannot meet the students' needs and the demand of the society.Therefore,the general English teaching should eventually turn to CBI teaching mode.In order to realize this transformation,it is suggested that the education authorities,schools and teachers should all pay attention to the application of need analysis for the English curriculum design and actual English teaching,as well as the successful realization of English teachers' professional development in vocational secondary schools.